The 5 Principles of NewSmart
Many of us learned in school that being smart was determined primarily by making the highest test scores by making the fewest mistakes. Many of us have our ego wrapped up in that definition of smart. We identify with what we know. Our Ego is wrapped up in knowing more than others. Well, in the Digital Age, a mentality of “I know” is the fast way to becoming irrelevant. In the Digital Age one has to excel at “not knowing” and Hyper-Learning. “Knowing” can lead to closed-mindedness, defensiveness, ineffective collaboration, and poor listening—listening to confirm instead of listening to learn. All of which inhibits Hyper-Learning. We need a new definition of smart for the Digital Age—that is NewSmart:
I’m defined not by what I know or how much I know, but by the quality of my thinking, listening, relating, and collaborating.
My mental models are not reality—they are only my generalized stories of how my world works.
I’m not my ideas, and I must decouple my beliefs (not values) from my ego.
I must be open-minded and treat my beliefs (not values) as hypotheses to be constantly tested and subject to modification by better data.
My mistakes and failures are opportunities to learn.
